We were going to call this edition “The Fishue” – a portmanteau of “fishing” and “issue,” and a winking acknowledgement of the water-focused stories you’ll find in these pages. The only problem was we couldn’t figure out how to spell it. “Fissue” looked too much like fissure. “Fishue” wasn’t any better. Alas, another darling was declared dead.

Lack of catchy branding aside, this issue succeeds in celebrating the Island’s fishing obsession from different angles and anglers’ perspectives. Vivian Ewing learns how to tie a fly. Nelson Sigelman heralds the eightieth anniversary of the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby. And Connie Berry examines a new seafood cookbook. 

While putting the finishing touches on these stories, however, other themes began to emerge – particularly those of timelessness and endurance. “The Derby today is just as important to the Island as it was when it was first established, maybe more so, because there are fewer traditional things that we hang on to,” treasurer Chris Scott explained. “It just seems like so many things go by the wayside, but the Derby hasn’t.”

The same could be said for Dock Street Coffee Shop, the fifty-year-old Edgartown diner that holds fast to its greasy spoons. Elsewhere in that town and in this issue, nonagenarian artist Doris Lubell dreams of the future. Up in Menemsha, a small but mighty fleet of commercial fishermen rise with the sun and carry on the traditions of the past. 

We round out this issue with a photo essay of a wild cranberry bog formed 10,000 years ago by glaciers. It was purchased by a conservation group in the 1980s and restored in the 2000s. Today, the cranberries are manually sorted on a 100-year-old machine. It’s not the most expeditious way to get things done, and that’s kind of the point. Elsewhere, the world hurtles forward. It is sweet September once again. It’s time to head to the edges of the Island and breathe in the salty air.